Dublin Coach Experience Discussion Thread

AX612

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122138737#Comment_122138737

Wow they've 4. Not sure what the point of the 3rd one is with nothing registered under it

AX612

Citaro on the 750 again today although this time it was an 06 reg one..

p_haugh

Spotted it trundling along the M50 this evening at 65km/h. Had a line of cars behind it - Why so many drivers stick behind a bus going that speed in the inside lane, instead of overtaking, is beyond me!

AX612

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122147641#Comment_122147641

65km/h is the max that Dublin Bus vehicles can do! surely that Citaro can do more. The same Citaro is on the 750 again this morning

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122148117#Comment_122148117

Is the cap not for any bus that can take standing passengers?

Either way it was going significantly slower than 100km/h

Jameslee23

there’s no cap on the green bus there’s been plenty times when the couches have been doing 120 in 100 km zone

p_haugh

As far as the rules of the road is concerned, its:

• Buses that are designed to take standing passengers (aka DCs citaros) are limited to 65 km/h on all roads.
• Buses that are not designed to take standing passengers (aka most of DCs coaches) are limited to 80 km/ on standard roads, or 100 km/h on Motorways/dual carriageways (assuming no lower speed limit in place).

Now whether Dublin Coach are following these limits is up for debate...

Jameslee23

perfect example of this when there’s no traffic on the M7 they can get from the Odeon in nass to the red cow in 15 minutes this happened to me before when I was getting early in the morning

Vic_08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122150304#Comment_122150304

Jct 1 Red Cow to Jct 9 Naas is 20km. At a steady 100kph this would take 12 mns, add a minute to get on at Naas and 2 minutes to get to the Red Cow stop this is perfectly possible while sticking to the speed limit with no traffic.

AX612

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122150275#Comment_122150275

I remember I had my speedometer app open on the Plaxton double decker on the Portlaoise service along the N7 and we hit 115km/h.. now that's a classic Dublin Coach moment!

AX612

The Irish times have now posted an article on Dublin Coach..

devnull

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024/05/18/brake-defects-faulty-seatbelts-broken-doors-the-allegations-made-against-a-major-bus-operator/

Since the article is behind a paywall, I'll summarise it briefly (real article is much longer)

Basically it says that the staff member who was the whistleblower was let go by the company because of unsatisfactory performance during his probation period. The staff member is claiming that the company tried to 'actively deport' him in order to stop him from ventilating about the 'seriously dangerous and defective vehicles' operated by the company.

Some of the things that the whistleblower alleged were issues which were logged in vehicle logbooks around windscreen wipers, seat belts, malfunctioning doors and gearboxes, toilets air conditioning, fire extinguishers, warning lights on dashboards, issues with retarders, cracked windscreens, absence of blind spot mirrors, cruise control not working and front suspension issues, faulty speedometers, tachograph issues and smoke pouring out from beneath a chassis. All of these things are alleged in the article.

According to the report, he was dismissed on 4th January and the article claims that he was approached: 'in the company’s canteen and advised they were going to take him to the airport, where he had been booked on a flight to return to South Africa' for which the whistleblowers solicitor believed the operator 'viewed his residency status as a means of control” and having terminated his employment it “attempted to actively deport him to mitigate him ventilating such concerns'

Apparently there is now also a second driver who is disputing his dismissal who has made claims of a health and safety nature, however that particular dispute is not up before the WRC so I assume by that it is being dealt with via the normal appeals process rather than going to the WRC. Wonder if that will come up as well in time.

The article ends saying that the Irish Times have sent questions to Dublin Coach about the situation and Dublin Coach have read the correspondence but have not responded to them. The case is currently adjourned at the request of the Dublin Coach legal team.

patrickc

A **** show with even worse buses!

I saw a 2012 decker today in Portlaoise that was bedraggled.

There was 21 coach there too and it looked like something was leaking from it.

AX612

Its mad how they've a 2012 bus still going but they've got 2018 reg buses sitting in the yard looking like they're for the scrap yard.

If anything in that article is true, then that's absolutely disgusting carry on!

Jameslee23

I wonder will that mean there be forced to start getting qualified mechanics in to fixing the buses

dublinman1990

If this article brings up more obvious failures within this company. Dublin Coach has to do something more drastic here.

First of all; they will need to do a lot more than just employing mechanics to just fix their buses. They need to employ qualified cleaning staff to clean-up the inside of the fleet as well. Having a cleaner and working fleet of buses maintained to a higher standard does drive up more demand from customers to go on to use your services. Dublin Coach really do need to listen to that message as they are part of the solution to help reduce emissions in transport now and in the future.

However if they going to face a much tougher response from the WRC & NTA this summer. What are they going to do next?

They cannot continue to just sit on their laurels with letting things continue as they as are right now. Dublin Coach has to take the potential likelihood of losing their operating licence very seriously if they want to continue to provide a decent level of competition to compete for customers against other private bus operators in this country in the near future.

If Dublin Coach don't do the work to bring the company up to a higher standard at this point; the 2nd half of the year is going to give them a much tougher outlook on their credibility from their current customers & from the higher ups of the state.

AX612

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122162398#Comment_122162398

Currently the cleaning system is poor. Depending on time you'll only get to empty bins, clean the toilet/empty it and mop the floor and that's it, if you have more time you do the likes of the windows, put the curtains back, clean the seats ect.

From my experience with using Dublin Coach the Interiors most of them are ok, I find the outside of them is more scruffy and the overall maintenance isn't great although some of the animals that used Dublin Coach like to leave they're rubbish behind at their seat and on the floor ect..

AX612

There is now an article in the papers about Dublin Coach, same words as the articles online but this is getting serious now..

Kaisr Sose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122167630#Comment_122167630

And so it shoild....

Jameslee23

deafly some serious changes are going to happen this year and if they don’t put age limit on how long their buses can be operating as public transport then it’s only gonna cause problems in the future

Jameslee23

I noticed today on the 816 route the 09 ke Mercedes has now TFI stick on the back

AX612

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122170966#Comment_122170966

I got that bus on Monday to Portarlington, it's a heap of junk. The TFI stickers have been there for ages as they're usually on the 310 service in Limerick

Jameslee23

I agree with you on that they definitely need to be scrapped this year and if they like them so bad why don’t they buy the new version of them

devnull

Reports on social media of vehicles now taking more passengers than vehicles stated capacity numbers and people standing on vehicles on the M50 that are not supposed to have people standing.

https://twitter.com/StephaneMaurin/status/1793958164829762004

Kaisr Sose

I was on that or a similar bus from Dundrum. It did not stop at Red Cow. No body was standing.but it had only 3 spare seats and very little space for passenger luggage. There was no luggage rack. Having passengers standing is wrong, totally unsafe.

I don't understand how they can run a public service route with no provision for disabled passengers.

The service is a disgrace. Looks like their ethos is profit before public service.

AX612

Them sprinter vans should not be on the Dundrum to Airport service what so ever!

The only route they are suitable for is the Kildare to Portarlington service which funny enough gets Citaros more often than not and they have luggage racks and standing passengers space!

Good luck to that person tagging them on Twitter, they barley use it but it still doesn't change the fact that it's a disgrace!

Chun the Unavoidable

saw a dublin coach on the M7 pulling in on the down sliproad at the Kildare Junction southbound not looking very well, this was about 22.00-22.30 time it was on the 300 service. as i approached it started up again then pulled in again.

TheWonderLlama

New fleet for dublin coach landed.

https://imgur.com/GdVmadb

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122180070#Comment_122180070

Passed one of the Scania Avayats double decker coaches on the 750 towards the airport yesterday evening.

More than likely pure coincidence, but I'm hoping it's the start of them giving the 750 more attention 🤞

TravelCounty

Is there anything the NTA can do about DC?

I understand most of its routes aren’t PSO but I speculate that it’s likely the existence of the “24hr every hour 726” dissuades the NTA at looking at expanding in the areas it operates in. On paper, it looks like these areas have a regular and dependable bus service.

The route to the airport and Red Cow is very useful but to be honest, in its current state, the 726 can never be relied upon and is a terrible commuter service.